Office Snoopy Show 2008

Lunch of The Day

First choice: The soup-look-a-like contains a vegetable (the big chunks) I don't know the name off and nobody seems capable of finding the English name for it anyway, so let's just pretend it's not there. But underneath all the "garniture" is a large piece of unidentifiable fish. Spicy.

Second alternative: Egg pancake. Mild and, naturally, tastes of an omelet. If not into spicy, this is the obvious (and the only) choice. 

Third option: Chicken and yes, the tiny longish chopped-up something is pure ginger! Fantastic! Used a lot here; also - maybe that explains the growing population, hehe, since ginger is said to have a testosterone-like effects - guys, start eating! :)

Wendy's Goodbye Dinner continued

Wendy's Goodbye Dinner

A few pictures from last nights dinner party in the honor of Wendy's (work colleague) return back to China. There was so much food, you know - and it just kept on coming. Plus, there also was a guy playing Thai music on an acoustic guitar; I thought that to be rather wonderful. The local restaurant is on my way home from work, probably 10-15 minutes walk away from home. Unfortunately, I didn't know we would have the party, so no camera of my own - that sort of bugs me, since I saw a few moments I would have liked to capture.. but, next time Im there I will take some shots of static items/corners I found interesting - such as a wooden sink in the bathroom :)

Transcript

"There is something blue blinking..."

Me: "Where?"

"On the little edge"

"Just ignore it; doesn't matter..."

"But how do I close this? Should I close all the windows? What about that Firefox? (pronounced Fireeeeefuksssss)  I don't see any little cross anywhere... what will happen to the blue blinking thing then? The Skipers (meaning Skype)"

"What does downloading means?"

"Eeerrmm... well, it' like you're downloading a picture or something.. a file, you know"

"What is a file?"

"Eerrmmm...file is a...hmmm... I give up"

"What's an e-mail?"

"Like post, you know. Letters."

"Oh, so you don't have to be there to get the letters?"

"Nope, I don't need to be online to get them, nope"

Computer talk with my mom and dad. Haven't laughed that hard for a long time :) Very funny, really - as long as one can keep annoyance out of it, which I can proudly say, I did! :)

Service level

The level of attentiveness from the side of staff of many shops is extraordinary; sometimes it goes to such "extremes" that I'm not sure if my boundaries are crossed or not :) Like yesterday, got myself (another) pair of flip-flops and browsed (again) through other shoe shops (my only shopping weakness, really - Pat, shut it! :P); tried on a few pairs and trust me, it is a very very weird feeling to have a young guy kneeling down on his knees and trying/offering to close the shoe strap for you :) My immediate thoughts - shoot, new coat of nail polish required or...errrmm.. I can so do this myself... or what do I do, what do I do?!  :) And  no, it's got nothing to do with any form of fetishism (for those of you who already started smirking)! :) Just unbelievably helpful attitude - but if that makes one uncomfortable, a 'thank you' and a smile followed by closing your shoe strap yourself is a graceful way out :) 

P.S. Today's achievement - got out of bed before noon :P

Why would you want to walk??

Yesterday I walked home from work - it still was light, I wore flip-flops instead of some high-heel torture tools and my bag wasn't that heavy. Delightful. Half an hour of indicating to all the taxi drivers that no, I actually can walk despite being a westerner :P But first I had to carefully decline a work-mates offer to give me a lift on a scooter - there is no way Im getting on one of those without a helmet! :)

The best discovery from the walk - there is a local bar here! Chris, we gotta investigate the place! Well, I don't know what facilities are required to use the actual term 'bar', but it was kinda cute. Next to the road, relatively nice wooden tables amidst plants, palms and bushes. The only reason I even noticed the place was because of the music and a few lines of colored light bulbs :P But the place is just around the corner, which means that if disappointment sets in, we can always run home :)

OK, it's time for me to chill on my balcony and get some tan on me - book and a bottle of water in hand :)

Small world

For some unpredictable reason, whenever I get traveling, a confirmation that the world isn't that big comes my way. A typical day, a regular taxi, the attempt to explain where to go and even more predictable question about where I come from... but this time after mentioning that Im a student in Denmark (have sort of given up explaining my split-identity issue :P; everyone seems to know Denmark though - probably because of the caricature crisis), instead of "OK" I hear "Hvordan gaar det?". It turns out that his sister lives in Aalborg and has a Danish husband. After that the unavoidable used-all-over-the-word comment about the cold versus warm weather, Danish milk products and for how long I've been there. A nice change from the standard situation, where I remain silent, smiling or trying to figure the correct moments when to laugh while the taxi driver rambles on in Thai :)

?

Chri's, come and save me! Im turning into a maniac! Can you ID OCD cases?! :)

Kinda funny and not funny at the same time. 

Crap, crap, crap!

Why, why and one more huge WHY does the biggest computer related cliche  - closing an important document without saving it an extra time and loosing the part that took the longest to write (and which also happens to be the section you think you did well with) - always happens at the most inappropriate moment?!? Couldn't care less (right now; that will go over) about my image and whatever remaining reputation and said "S**T" out loud. Murphy, you're a dead man. Could say it even louder one more time, but I can already see the ridiculous aspect of it all ... Geez, woman.. what, were you really born yesterday? (those of you who are of that opinion, remain silent for the day :P)

Flowers & Scent

Temptations

Today I have given in to two of them - the first one being the purchase of 4 books (though harmoniously compiled - 50/50 fun & serious) and maybe the "worst" of the two... cheese. Yes, I have finally bought myself a small pack of cheese. Couldn't stand it anymore.. walking around the small selection at Tesco, drooling, calculating the price versus pleasure ratio :P Oh well, it WAS heaven; plus, I have to take care of my own spoiling. 

By the way, I found it slightly amusing that the majority of the cheese packaging had the text "Great Source Of Calcium" on it. Milk products aren't top sellers here, which means that people are not getting enough calcium (both empirical and purely medical researches claim the lacking calcium to be the reason for people here being so small).

One more comment about food: if staying here for a longer time, one might as well start working on enjoying egg fruits and other representatives from the same family, because em' things are in everything! :) Don't get me wrong, there is nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with the taste of small green "whatever's" ; it's the feeling in my mouth while chewing... in the beginning I found it ... errm, how can I put it.. geez, all the potential explanations that have just zoomed through my mind sound a bit "dirty", so can't post that.. :P 

Sorry :)

Busy & less busy streets

The first shot is taken from underneath the BTS line (Chit Lom station) - high up, high up :)

Palm trees and naughty birds

Lumpini Park

I was slightly disappointed; for no logical reason I had imagined the place will be something special (maybe the word Lumpini gives me associations of something peculiar :P), but, as you all can see, it's a nice place, but sure doesn't leave one in awe. Doesn't stand close to the one next door, but I guess it still is a good refuge place for the people living in the area. 

Took BTS to the nearest station and had planned to just walk to the park... which I still did, except that I hadn't expected to get soaked nor to get the worlds muddiest feet (felt like a walking sandman afterwards - leaving a trail after me :P. Had the thought of photographing my own feet, but got too grossed out myself :P)

Fish and alike

Here comes a few painstakingly (how cool is it to photograph dead fish -  made a complete joke out of myself) taken pictures from TescoLotus. Whatever it is... edible, thats all I can tell about it. 

The Others

Hmm.. just spent some time clicking the magic "Next Blog" button (again). Would you believe me when I say that there actually is a blog called ABBA?! :) There's no pattern there - from attempts to be highly intellectual to plain vanity - take your pick. But most of them do offer some sort of explanation why the blog was created in the first place (Im also guilty as charged)... as if blog "owners" need to justify their reasons for being here in the first place. Funny, on one of the blogs there was a post about how silly it is to start a new post with the words "sorry for not writing so long" or "my goldfish died, so I've been mourning" etc. - like if the absence of new posts would keep someone away from continuing to lead their real lives :)

After a while it becomes clear that Im doing this for my own sake :P

Chilling

A silent night - didn't go out anyway. The girls are broke (I guess the budget for this weekend was "blown" away on Thursday :P), me' two Canadian "kids" (shoot, hope they never stumble on the blog) are off to some sort of an island, so StarMovies channel, music and a beer it is. Nothing to complain about, really - got to see "Little Miss Sunshine" again, which makes one feel that being weird is absolutely OK :P

Initially I had this plan to check out another park located in the center of Bangkok called Lumpini park, but since I woke up only at noon... but I guess I needed the 12 hours of sleep :P

Maybe tomorrow. 

Survival Breakfast

Well, this probably is the best morning-after pick-you-up breakfast.. noodle soup (MAMA is a large Thai noodle and who knows what else producer; Im  supportive of the local brand and will remain so despite the fact that the price will be increased by 1 THB due to rising price of palm oil - "quote" local English newspaper :P) AND something that looks like fish oil (or whatever substance containing omega bla bla bla), but actually is the local version of RedBull and, just as RedBull, tastes disgusting, but (placebo or no placebo effect) makes you alive again for the coming 5 minutes. I never expect the buzz to last more than 5 minutes anyway, so nothing to get disappointed about :) Geez, thats one long sentence. Excuse me. Too lazy to edit it, though, so no help from my side.

The party last night was fine; the usual suspects at the usual venue. I was fortunate enough to have Jojo as my find-a-taxi guy :) The third attempt brought results - though I must say that, once we ended up in Prawet (area where I live), there was a slight confusion about which direction to go. Im not of much help, but Im getting there... soon most of the possible routes will be travelled, so there is hope that some day, some day.. :)

I am a very Tall Person

Tall, tall tall - in my ears 1.67 is just about to be above the children's size section (actually, size 14-16 in H&M is just fine for me :P)

 But on the contrary - when 1.40-1.50 is the average, to be a short one in Europe becomes catwalk hight here :) Nice to tower above everyone else, but it's not so smart (or flattering) to be photographed. 

Good sleeping methods, anybody??

Here it comes again.. half past midnight on a regular Monday/Tuesday night and I cannot think myself into a good dream. The usual method of having music in the background seems to create the opposite effect - instead of no thoughts, they just keep showing up. Can't "count sheep" since that is just way too stupid.

Annoying, really. 

Graduation

I was on my way home, when a work-mate of mine came running after me :) She graduated from college around 8 month ago, but today all her family had gathered together to have pictures taken (or this is what I understood the occasion to be :P). 

The old lady is her grandmother - what a face! :) The artificial flowers are home made and take a guess out of what - nylon stockings. I'm not a big fan of flowers made of plastic or any other artificial material, but I must admit that this is something special. 

...

And again.. sorry, run out of title ideas :)

... keepin' on

Rama IX continued...

Rama IX park pictures - finally :)

This then is the amazing park right across my street; in one of the pictures a white building can be seen in the far background - thats where I live. The pictures I took today are only of a small part of the park; I spent my time finding a good spot to settle down in and read a book - and for some reason I didn't notice my arms staring to get too sunburned.. :)

Chinese New Year

Despite the fact that Chinese New Year is not an official holiday in Thailand, it still is possible to see it being celebrated or at least paid attention to. Today, at BTS Siam stop, the square next to a shopping mall was beautifully decorated and a man was playing some sort of a Chinese music instrument. I have never seen such before, quite naturally, but the music was wonderful - very oriental, of course, but with a modern twist. I made a small video, I can try and upload it, but it is like 140 MB - I will give it a try at a later point - until that a few grainy pictures will have to do :)

Anyway, it was lovely to sit in that square for a half an hour and listen to the music while reading my book. Just a lazy Saturday evening; I have gotten a new TV channel called StarMovies, which means now I can entertain myself by watching something else besides CNN (until now, CNN has been the only channel in English :P).

Plan for tomorrow - go to the Rama IX park and take loads of pictures, so I can finally make it visible to all what an impressive place it is. 

BTS

The nicest way to get around must be the Sky Train or in an abbreviated form BTS. Sure gives some good views - not sure how many meters high up the rails are, but high enough to make one wish the train isn't gonna all of a sudden change its mind and jump off :) 

Now there are two lines, but the BTS system is continuously undergoing expansion - more stops are being built, so in some years time it might be possible to get all the way through Bangkok with this extremely comfortable mean of transportation.

Trying real hard, but nothing is happening

Friday... :)

Funny, I can't really work very efficiently unless I'm under some serious time pressure/deadline. It is like a requirement for me to reach the high gear; stress helps :P

Devotion to the Royal Family

Many countries are constitutional monarchies, where the members of the royal families don't have that much/or none political power and are more focussed on being patrons for different charity organizations, representing the country and so forth. The average Joe citizen of a country like that either enjoys the existence of the royal family as a historical asset, likes to be entertained by its scandals, hates it or is generally indifferent. Just look at United Kingdom - following the royalty is a whole movement :)

Now, what is amazing about Thailand is that people respect and honor their royal family (the King, Queen and the Kings late sister have been, until now, the most prominent figures when looking around) very much; now, that is not the unique part. What IS utmost astonishing is the sincerity about it. 

People wear yellow on Mondays to honor the birthday of the King (born on a Monday) and light blue on Fridays for the Queen. 

I think it is admirable that such a tradition, reenforced by people's respect, sincerity  and devotion, hasn't vaporized, lost its magic and still lives strongly in everyone. 

Close your eyes & feel

The letters (or would it be more correct to say signs?) in Thai language continue to amaze me; my Danish colleague is taking Thai lessons (have been for a while) and his conclusion was - oh, its very complicated :) 

To "draw" the letters correctly by hand must be a challenge in itself; I would have to take a "fine writing" class like my mother did when she was a child. The signs look beautiful, though - almost like some sort of wallpaper decoration pattern instead of just letters composing words. 

The little sign (written by my colleague Mae) says: "I would like to buy an alarm clock" followed by something else.. maybe many "please's"? The sentence seems a bit long to be just that. 

And yes, I DID need that note, if anybody wonders :P

Keyboard is confusing, so the best method is not to look - trust your fingertips to find the right keys by instinct and keep your eyesight out of it :) Nevertheless, this keyboard is easier than one with Latin & Russian letters on it - at least Thai signs aren't that large, not in red and don't cover the whole friggin' key.

Cake of the day

In this part of the world Chinese New Year is about to take over - it is not an official holiday in Thailand, but a large basket with diverse sweets has showed up in the office, so the pick of the day is: pink "muffin". Some sort of a cupcake, which doesn't really taste of anything particular - slightly sweet, but that's it :)

Kaosan Road

The infamous Kaosan Road

This is where everybody goes - locals and tourists, though the majority of the crowd is anything but Thai. Restaurants, bars, fried noodles sold from em' little carts, souvenir shops selling stuff like the obligatory T-shirts, jewelry, Buddha figures etc. You get my drift. Crowded in evenings, almost unrecognizable during the daytime. 

P.S. The coolest sign ever, hehe.. The "bar" on the road with tiny plastic chairs all around it. When police shows up, the chairs are taken away and the "guests" have to stand up - obviously one is not supposed to do that :)

Two veterans living amid temples

Tough look :)

Each in their own way

The first girl was begging together with her mom; the second's father was a history teacher at a free-school, which is a part of the Royal Palace. Both smiling for different reasons.

The side you can't see

For some reason, staring at lives that are perceived to be less worth & dignifying than one's own has transformed into a large scale tourist attraction. Ironically speaking, it makes one feel better about one's achievements...but maybe the aftermath should be appreciation and gratitude instead. To be humble is no longer in.

The start and the end?

...continued

Pictures. Diverse.

Biased?

The small local shop, just two minutes walk away, offers the best shopping experience. The owners, an older couple, welcome with warm smiles. The lady in charge always makes such a fuss about what plastic bags should my purchased goods be packed into :) Another lady normally manages the packing, but when I show up, the Real Lady In Charge always disrupts her packing system and indicates another bag. Dunno why, but its such sweet spectacle to observe :)

Another interesting thing people do here - I have never during my life received so many compliments from men as I have here from women. They call me pretty, comment on one's figure and something about Miss Universe. In the beginning I couldn't really figure out how do you react to that.. now - you just call them beautiful back and make sure the most ravishing smile shows up :P Very, very sweet and warming. 

Maybe I should start singing' "Im so vain..." :P

Standstill

Time has stopped. One of those days when it seems noon will never come. Somehow the only way I can sense the flow is by counting how many songs I've listened to. And by how many I've bought on iTunes. Not very fond of days like this :)

Not much new - working on constructing my pre-test questionnaire; taking my time with it, hehe.. haven't been able to sleep well for the last two nights, so I can feel these waves of tiredness sweeping over me time to time during the day. 

Will go shopping after work - Im, to some extent, a so called emotional-shopper :P Maybe a new pair of shoes and a bottle of rum for Pina Coladas. Or Mojitos. Or whatever seems right on a Friday night.